“Come Together”, an H&M Ad and Short Film

Wes Anderson’s, “Come Together” is an H&M commercial that shares a Christmas Miracle under 4 minutes on the Winter express.

You can see the film play at H&M’s New York City flagship store in Times Square!

One month before Christmas, Wes Anderson and H&M release their short film, “Closer Together” as a Holiday announcement for H&M’s DIY line. When you take away the commercial aspect of the film you’ll find yourself amused by the family film’s eye-catching scenery and pizzaz of Adrien Brody who plays the conductor Ralph alongside his assistant porter Fritz (Garth Jennings).

Conductor Ralph is in charge of the Winter Express train for H&M Lines. We can see Ralph through the train window as he looks outside with a concerning gesture about the weather. It seems as if Ralph has bad news and brings himself to share his thoughts over the train intercom where we learn that the train has to be diverted to alternate tracks due to inclement weather and mechanical issues. The redirected trains arrival time is now 3:17a.m. and we are now faced with concerned passengers who want to meet family in time for Christmas.

Ralph shares his empathy to his passengers who not only are stuck on the train alone but will miss Christmas with their families. Ralph decides to host a Christmas brunch in twenty minutes from his announcement for his passengers and with Fritz, his assistant porter, begin the process of organizing the event.

After hanging up the intercom telephone, Ralph pulls down the same window we met him at to look outside. After he gazes left and then right, he tucks himself back into his train and makes a call.

Ralph calls station master Fred and asks about several items which include construction paper, an extension cord, scissors, and aluminum foil. He then asks Fred, “How tall is it?” which implies he may be inquiring about a tree.

As soon as we gather an idea about what Ralph may have come up with he yells for Fritz to catch his items outside the train with a stick. Although Ralph has pressure to host a Christmas brunch in twenty minutes, all his movements, words, and ideas are perfect and well planned like a leader. Brody surely plays a direct and nervous conductor with great precision.

As the conductor, Ralph takes charge to take care of his crew and passengers to provide a decent Christmas for everyone on board. Twenty minutes later, the solo passengers leave their cabins on time to head to the cafeteria for their brunch and in this moment all of our confusion gets released into the view of a paper winter wonderland where all the passengers unite to make the best out of their Christmas inconvenience.

Anderson ends the short film with the smallest of the bunch eating his meal while playing Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon and Yoko Ono to announce that Christmas is here for the passengers on that train and the audience watching the film.

“Come Together” was released right after Thanksgiving, which is the perfect time for H&M to launch their DIY Christmas. Each passenger wears H&M clothing which has nothing to actually do with the film itself. Like I stated earlier, the film can be viewed as a short film instead of a commercial which is what makes it a heartwarming story. You don’t feel as if you’re being sold to which makes the film feel more genuine and as if the Christmas miracle is real.

While we stare at Anderson’s pastel colors we feel more than we look at. We wonder if Ralph will break the hope of his passengers or if he can pull off his brunch and when we view his plans come to life we get inspired to be a little nicer, a bit kinder, to the people around us. Leaving us with a reminder of what Christmas is all about.

The reason we shop, shop H&M, is to bring that miracle to someone, whether you plan to or not.

Yessenia Diaz has a background in graphic and web design but is also intrigued by writing and teaching. Yessenia created Tru.Works as an outlet for all her talents and continues collecting stories from around the world to share with people all across the interweb. Follow Yessenia on Instagram and her favorite, Twitter, @ythegreatdiaz.